Archive for December 15, 2011

Internet has changed our lives dramatically. All of the things that we had to travel and spend money to do, we now can do at home over the internet.

First of all researching information no longer requires buying special books or going to the library. For example, all government organizations and most corporations have internet sites. These sites often contain forms which can be downloaded and offer customer service for more help.

One can also do banking by internet, make investments in stocks and bonds, get insurance, pay bills. In addition one can buy almost anything that one wants thanks to credit cards and e-commerce.

Entertainment, including movies, YouTube, can be found on any and all subjects. These of course are the positive sides of internet.

The negative sides of internet include major wasting of time. It is estimated that office workers with internet surf for over a hour day of the bosses time. If a worker surfs for 10 hours per week, or 520 hours per year, then he has wasted 13 weeks per year of the company’s time. Thirteen weeks is a quarter of a year. In the economy, this lowers the national output (GNP) weakening the country. Also many people waste their own time at home when they could be doing something more productive. Then of course there are the dangers of misguided surfing at pornography, gambling and violence sites. These dangers can be reduced by putting filters on one’ computer.

Like most things, internet is not good or bad but neutral. It is a very powerful tool and it is up to us to use it for good.